Oracle's Sun Java JDK packages are to be removed from the Ubuntu partner repositories and disabled on users systems. Oracle, in retiring the "Operating System Distributor License for Java," means Canonical no longer have permission to distribute the package. The change will affect Ubuntu 10.04 LTs, Ubuntu 10.10 and 11.04 users only. Users who have the "sun-java-6" package installed on their system will see it removed via a future software update -- the exact date of which is "TBD."

Before everyone gets their panties in a wad, you should go to groklaw. They have a link to someone who actually provides a good explanation for this decision. Oracle is now using OpenJDK 7 as the reference platform for its Java. So for 7/1.7, they should be completely compatible. As OpenJDK is open source, there is no reason for Oracle to ship Java under its old license. This has NOTHING to do with Google. Ubuntu has had OpenJDK for a while. But you can still get Oracle's gratis Java if you want, just under Oracle's standard license.